Closing the Health Gap: Lessons from Africa

Abstract

In the United States, keeping 300 million Americans connected to healthcare is amongst the nation’s most pressing challenges. Front and center is the debate over reforms to America’s hospital-centered health system; however, American hospitals cannot alone address pragmatic concerns driving healthcare reform. Because of the size and diversity of America’s population, our health system requires a full-time network of community health workers (CHWs) who can lead the way in developing innovative, low-cost, community-focused approaches. Without a close-to-client network of CHWs, America will continue to struggle to accomplish the triple aim of higher-quality care, lower cost, and better health outcomes. As a nation, we must create space to engage in local system design in order to learn how to integrate transformative components, such as CHWs, to connect a fragmented health system and reconnect it to the communities it serves.